FIVE GRIZZLIES QUALIFY FOR PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Georgian College played host to the 2020 OCAA Badminton East Regional Championships on Jan. 31 through Feb. 1 at the Georgian Athletic Centre in Barrie.

The top teams from the OCAA east division took part in the event participating in the five disciplines of men's and women's singles, doubles and mixed doubles during the two-day event. Each of the top three placed finishers in each discipline earned the right to move on to the provincial championships.

Georgian's women's doubles team of Kiersten Hillman (Bracebridge) and Paige Hillman (Bracebridge) had an incredible tournament. The sister's entered the final round of play against the only other unbeaten team in the duo of Salina He and Sarah Nguy from Seneca College.

In a tight battle, the Grizzlies were able to win the match 2-0 (25-23, 21-17) as the two Hillman's finished with a perfect 5-0 record in first place.

Women's singles player Jessica Maher (Tottenham) was also impressive at the tournament. The second-year veteran finished the round robin in second place in Pool A with a 2-1 record. Maher than went on to defeat Centennial's Taylor Liou in the cross-over playoff match 2-0 (21-4, 21-9).

In the semi-finals Maher dropped a tough match to eventual 1^st place winner Huyen Le from George Brown College. Maher then responded in a big way defeating Alina Zeng from Seneca College 2-0 (21-3, 21-10) in the 3^rd place match to earn a trip to the provincials.

Georgian's mixed doubles team of Daniel Hong (Angus) and Gurkehar kaur Kalra (India) finished in third place in their discipline.

All five of those Grizzlies (K. Hillman, P. Hillman, Maher, Hong, Kalra) have all qualified and will move on to the 2020 OCAA Badminton Championships will take place Feb. 13 & 14 hosted by Conestoga College in Kitchener, ON.

Also competing at the regionals for Georgian were Kylie Laforga (Barrie) who finished in fourth place in the women's singles Pool B and the men's doubles team of Shubham Dyal Singh (India) and Preyal Patel (India) who finished in sixth place.

You can see all the results for the 2020 OCAA Badminton East Regional Championship by clicking here.